He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay awhile, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same.
The man who views the world at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
Make new friends but keep the old ones; one is silver and the other's gold.
My friend, why have you drifted so far away? All motion is relative, maybe it is you who have moved away by standing still.
Give me one friend, just one, who meets the needs of all my varying moods.
It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
I say get an education. Become an electrician, a mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer — anything but a fighter. In this trade, it's the managers that make the money and last the longest.
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.
Statement after losing his first fight to Ken Norton, March 31, 1973: I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.
If my fans think I can do everything I say I can do, then they're crazier than I am. After one of his fight predictions turned out to be wrong.
God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not number One; he is.
Pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.
I'm gonna have to be killed before I lose, and I ain't going to die easy.
Float like a butterfly.
Sting like a bee.
Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see
Don't count the days, make the days count.
There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.
Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
The service you do for others is the rent you pay for the time you spend on earth.
Superman don't need no seat belt. [Comment to flight attendant, who replied, 'Superman don't need no airplane, either.']
I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.
I'm the best. I just haven't played yet [on his golf game].
Fifteen referees. I want fifteen referees to be at this fight because there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set except me. There's not a man alive who can whup me. I'm too fast. I'm too smart. I'm too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked.
